At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!

That doesn't seem to augment your point. You are not 15 anymore, internet connectivity is much more ubiquitous, and a lot of people do have private servers.

Honestly though, I wonder how long it will take before someone just builds a mod chip in that will simply fake the whole "phone home" thing MS is going for. Unlike, say, Diablo III, most of the processing isn't really taking place server-side for these games, so there would be no functionality lost(other than multiplayer) if someone just duped the system into being offline. And with the system architecture being so much more familiar this time around, I can't help but wonder if the turnaround time for a mod chip like this will be a lot shorter.